21 Jun
On Wednesday, June 18, Vanessa Selbst surged on top of the Global Poker Index 300 Rankings. In doing so, she has become the first woman to ever achieve this and joins the elite group of only eight players who made it all the way to the top of the leaderboard.
By claiming the top spot, Vanessa dethroned Ole Schemion. The German has been #1 or #2 on the GPI300 list for most part of 2014, but for now he has to make place for Selbst, whose performance on the tournament circuit, without doubt, warrants this honor.
Vanessa holds three gold WSOP bracelets, and her most recent one came this year, after beating an extremely tough field in the $25,000 Mixed-Max Event. She has more than $10.5 million in live tournament earnings, and year 2014 has been good to her so far.
Selbst started strong right off the bat, coming third in the $100,000 PCA Super High Roller event in early January, netting $760,640, and then finishing third again later that month in the $25,000 High Roller Tournament, which earned her another $600,000 and change.
Then came the World Series of Poker and she claimed the victory in the very first public event that took place to announce to the world that she clearly means business this year. Combination of these results put her in front of Schemion for about 50 points and if her streak continues in Vegas and she succeeds in running away with another bracelet, her place on the top will be very hard to reach.
They say it is always easier getting to the top then staying there, and this might well be true, as other top places on the list are occupied by Daniel Negreanu, Scott Seiver, Byron Kaverman and Philipp Gruissem. All these players represent serious threat to her reign and all of them will, no doubt, do their very best to see their name following coveted #1.
For Vanessa, who is widely recognized as one of the top tournament players today by her peers, this is yet another acknowledgment that her climb through the ranks hasn’t gone unnoticed. For everyone else, it is a warning sign that Selbst is here for a long haul and as things stand right now, she is the one to catch.
Judging by her stats, Selbst might prove a slippery one, though. In her 63 career cashes, she managed to come out as a winner 14 times (22%) and made final table in 38 of those tournaments (60%).
In other words – happy hunting!
